Florida recounts, lawsuits, chaos: Why the state's political polarization is grabbing the spotlight again

Florida Governor and Senate candidate Rick Scott says he is asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate elections offices in Palm Beach and Broward counties, questioning whether they were trying to inflate the Democratic vote. (Nov. 9)
AP

Brenda Snipes, left, Broward County supervisor of elections, looks at a ballot with Betsy Benson, canvassing board chair, during a canvassing board meeting Nov. 9 in Lauderhill, Fla. Snipes faces heavy criticism from Republicans, including President Donald Trump, on how her office has conducted the recount.(Photo: Joe Skipper, AP)

WASHINGTON – Florida, the state that gave America Bush v. Gore 18 years ago, is at it again.

Three statewide races – including governor and senator – are still up in the air a week after Election Day. Florida remains not just the swingiest of states but one continuously beset by election glitches. Or so it seems.

In 2000, it was hanging chads and butterfly ballots. This year, it's accusations of destroyed votes and recount deadlines that may be impossible to meet. At the center are Palm Beach and Broward Counties – again – just like it was nearly two decades ago when the presidential election eventually was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lawsuits have been filed. Countersuits have been filed. President Donald Trump has weighed in, tweeting that fellow Republicans Scott and DeSantis need to be declared winners because "an honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected."

The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!

There's no reason to think 2020 – another pivotal presidential contest in which Trump will be on the ballot – will be any different, said Keith Fitzgerald, a political science professor at the New College of Florida in Sarasota.

"Florida perfectly reflects the conflict emerging from economic and social change in the United States. It just happens to be mathematically balanced. So it makes our elections dramatic. They're partisan, and they're really competitive," said Fitzgerald, a former state Democratic lawmaker who has worked for the Gillum campaign. "And the potential of a replay of this (in 2020) is high."

After weeks of high-stakes drama and court battles in 2000, George W. Bush was declared the winner of Florida by 537 votes – giving him enough electoral votes to become the nation's 43rd president.

An official ballot for the general election in Palm Beach County, Fla., is shown Nov. 7, 2000. The close proximity of the holes and the numbering system for the candidates caused some confusion for voters. James Prichard, AP

2000: GEORGE W. BUSH. It was a nail-biter election that came down to a contentious recount in Florida, but in the end, the Republican made it to the White House. Bush won Arizona more comfortably. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Broward County canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg looks over a questionable ballot at the county courthouse in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., during the 2000 presidential election recount. Rhona Wise, AFP/Getty Images

Photographers take pictures of Kim Watson, who is dressed as Darth Vader to protest outside the Leon County Public Library, while the recount of the Miami-Dade under vote is taking place inside on Saturday in Tallahassee. Craig Litten

AP
FILE- In this Nov. 22, 2000 file photo, Broward County, Fla. canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg examines a challenged vote at the Broward County Emergency Operations Center in Plantation, Fla. The 2000 presidential election was decided in Florida by 537 votes after the U.S. Supreme Court halted recounts. The election increased rancor between the two major parties and highlighted deficiencies in the nation's voting infrastructure. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) Wilfredo Lee, AP

Dexter Douglass, attorney for Al Gore, answers questions from the media who packed into a tight area outside the third-floor courtroom where the arguments for and against the manual state recount were heard. Phil Sears

Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, left, and other election officials recount general election ballots Tuesday morning at the Leon County Courthouse. The ballots were left over from the recount that was halted two weeks ago because of the Supreme Court decision. Craig Litten

Leon County Commissioner, Bob Rackliff, and Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, recount ballots on Wednesday in the Leon County Courthouse that were cast in Leon County during the general election on Tuesday. (not pictured also counting was County Judge Tim Harley). Allison Long

George W. Bush attorneys Irv Terrell, left, and Phil Beck hand out material to the media in front of the Leon County Public Library, before the Miami-Dade under vote recount began on Saturday morning. Craig Litten

The following year, the Florida Legislature standardized its voting process by mandating that all 67 counties use optical scanning machines that provided a paper trail. No more hanging or dimpled or slightly perforated chads to decipher.

The law created early voting and made it easier for Floridians to vote by absentee ballot. Voters who made a mistake on their ballot through a technical flaw – such as voting for more than one candidate for the same office – were allowed to submit a corrected ballot on the spot. Recounts became automatic if the difference between two candidates was no more than half a percentage point.

Republican Rep. Bill Posey, then a freshman state senator from Brevard County who chaired the effort, noted the measure passed with broad bipartisan support even though some of his fellow GOP lawmakers grumbled the changes would help Democrats more where problems with ballots were more prevalent.

"Our elections are bulletproof," Posey said in an interview Monday. "Except for gross incompetence or intentional fraud at the highest levels, there is no other reason for every voter in Florida not to feel their vote was counted."

Those changes in state law were supposed to make the election recounts easier. But those same changes led to an increase in early voting and mail-in ballots that take a long time to verify, making it harder for Broward and Palm Beach to retabulate the votes.

Posey said everybody knew what the rules were long before this election took place.

"Nobody in Baker County's having a problem. Pinellas County's not having problems. Orange County's not having problems. It's the same people having the problems," he said. "You get bad actors, they can cause bad things to happen."

Florida elections had issues even before 2018 rolled around.

In 2011, Scott, as governor, signed a bill passed by the GOP Legislature that, among its changes, shortened early voting. The move disproportionately affected minority voters and was reversed after the 2012 election following sharp criticism from civil rights groups.

Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, agrees with Posey that the state boasts one of the nation's most comprehensive election processes in the nation.

But it's not insulated from human error or the polarizing nature of Florida's evenly split electorate, which magnifies the impact of mistakes or confusion that would be surmountable in many other states, he said. Despite major strides since Bush v. Gore, Florida remains the bloodiest battleground heading into 2020, he said.

"After 18 years and a population growth of 5 to 6 million, we're still evenly divided, perhaps more evenly divided," Jewett said. "That feeds into everything else: We're huge to presidential elections, to control of the Senate, to control of the House. I suspect we will be just as tightly divided in two years, so the possibility of very close elections are quite high, if you ask me."